'
Now, the first step to the cure of all such hypocrisy, and to the
salvation of our souls, is to know that we are hypocrites, and to know
also what that is in which we are most hypocritical. Well, there are two
absolutely infallible tests of a true hypocrite,--tests warranted to
unmask, expose, and condemn the most finished, refined, and even
evangelical hypocrite in this house to-night, or in all the world. By
far and away the best and swiftest is prayer. True prayer, that is. For
here again our inexpugnable hypocrisy comes in and leads us down to
perdition even in our prayers. There is nothing our Lord more bitterly
and more contemptuously assails the Pharisees for than just the length,
the loudness, the number, and the publicity of their prayers. The truth
is, public prayer, for the most part, is no true prayer at all. It is at
best an open homage paid to secret prayer. We make such shipwrecks of
devotion in public prayer, that if we have a shred of true religion about
us, we are glad to get home and to shut our door. We preach in our
public prayers.
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